


Claws

by kelex



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 19:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11447103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelex/pseuds/kelex
Summary: How can Rose get back to the Doctor from Pete's World?





	Claws

**Author's Note:**

> If you guessed that this is a Doomsday fix-it, give yourself a gold star.

The universe sealed itself with a pop, unheard by anyone except the Doctor. On his side, the white Torchwood wall was cool against his cheek, and the pop that separated him from Rose drowned out everything save the pounding of both hearts. His fingers curled into a useless fist, then fell helplessly to his side. Straightening his shoulders, the Doctor walked away an empty shell. 

\---

In Pete's World, Rose was a furious flurry of motion. Her hand slammed the wall repeatedly, demanding and begging to be sent back to the Doctor. The people who loved her stood in a helpless clump; Jackie and Mickey Smith, Pete Tyler. 

Jackie noticed it first. An eerie silence had fallen all at once, and Rose's sobbing and screaming had stopped. In the next instant, an ear-splitting tone shook the alternate Torchwood tower. Rubble started to fall, but the tone disappeared as quickly as it began. 

Everyone except Rose had moved during the brief rubble shower, and Pete had tried to pull Rose with him. She'd refused to budge, and Pete felt himself get pushed back as he collided with Mickey and Shaun. 

A soft golden glow filled the air in delicate swirls, centering around Rose. Her hair fluttered as if she was being buffeted by a non-existent breeze. 

Jackie's nails dug into Pete's arm. "Mickey!" 

Mickey Smith picked himself up off the floor, and yanked Shaun and Pete back with him and Jackie. "What the hell?" 

Rose finally turned around, only to show that she was no longer just Rose. "Goodbye, Mum, Mickey. Pete, look after them for me." But she didn't move to embrace them, and rebuffed Jackie's attempts to hug her. "Leave here, now." 

Rose's voice sounded deeper, different, but it was the golden energy that shone behind her eyes that made her seem completely alien, though wrapped in a familiar face. 

"Right, leaving now." Mickey knew that it was time to go. Neither he nor Jackie had any idea what was going on, but he did know enough to realize that now was not the time to linger and demand anything. 

The not-quite-Rose turned back to the wall, and everything else ceased to exist. Rose was completely given over to the power rolling through her. 

The Wolf dug her claws into the very fabric of the universe. It tore with some difficulty, a jagged weal in the darkness illuminated only by her own light. The Void was in every way its namesake, empty and cold and dark. But Bad Wolf was not afraid of the dark. 

She tore through the Void's weakened walls, tearing open the same passage recently exploited by the Cybermen. A crack opened into the same lever room as before, except it was empty. As Bad Wolf re-entered Rose's world, the ragged veil of the Void closed behind her. 

"My Doctor," she called out, and collapsed. 

\---

The Doctor was inside the TARDIS, staring blankly at Rose's shirt draped over the walkway railing. His mourning--that was clearly what he was feeling--was interrupted by the tolling of the cloister bell alert and the screaming of every alert and alarm his ship contained going off at once. 

He sprang into action, spinning dials and toggling switches until the unholy din had been silenced. Using the scanner, the Doctor tied the screen to the output and focused on what was causing the temporal scanner to go ballistic. It tuned in to the lever room of the Torchwood tower just in time to show Rose appearing in a swirl of artron particles and collapse. 

The TARDIS was moving almost immediately, materializing beside Rose. The doors flew open violently and the Doctor ran towards Rose. 

The familiar sound of the TARDIS engines had Rose stirring sluggishly. But as soon as she recognized the sound, she was back on her feet. Bad Wolf reached out to touch her Doctor's face. "My Doctor. Nothing in all of time and space is going to part us." 

The Doctor closed his eyes and luxuriated for the briefest eternity in the feeling of Rose touching him. But that ended quickly as he met her golden eyes. "You're going to kill her," he said softly. "Her body, her mind, it can't handle everything that you are." 

"I would give everything to be with you again," answered the Wolf. "Always by your side." Bad Wolf raised her hand, feeling both of the Doctor's hearts beating. 

"I don't want you to die, I don't want to lose Rose." He kept repeating her name, reminding her of who she was. 

Bad Wolf did not speak again. The glowing of Rose's eyes went out like an extinguished candle, and she crumpled like a marionette with cut strings. 

The Doctor caught her easily, holding her against his chest and carrying her into the TARDIS. He sat her in the pilot chair and supported her as he brushed the hair from her face. "Rose?" he whispered softly, feeling her exhalations ruffle his hair. "Rose, please, wake up."

"Take me back!" was the first thing that Rose shouted as she woke up. She looked around blindly, unable to focus on anything except the fact that she was not in Torchwood any longer. 

"Rose! You are back!" 

The Doctor's voice calmed Rose automatically, and she was able to finally absorb her surroundings. "Doctor?" She was disbelieving until she touched his face, ran her fingers through his hair. "It's really you? I'm here?" 

"You're here." Once he was certain she was herself again, the Doctor wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "You came back to me. That's all that matters." 

Rose's return embrace was desperately fierce, clinging on for dear life. "I thought I had lost you forever," she said into his neck. "But then I just... I felt like I still had the TARDIS inside me. It--I--we?" Rose struggled for a pronoun, decided it didn't matter, and went on. "Decided that it was impossible to stay behind, so I came back." 

Making no move to disentangle himself, the Doctor buried his face in Rose's hair. "Bad Wolf again, taking care of both of us." More explanations could wait, consequences could be figured out later. He had everything that mattered in his arms, and he was never letting go again. 

End  
July 8, 2017


End file.
